The Ring
by Elizabeth Bartlett
Summary: Carson's tells Emily about her grandmother. Please R&R!


A/N: Challenge fic. Had to have 'this was my mothers' in it. Beckett/Cadman paring. Set five years after 'Critical Mass'. Don't own anything related to 'Stargate'. Please R&R!

"Whatcha got there daddy?" Emily asked Beckett, looking up at him.

"This was my mothers." Carson said, pulling Emily up onto his lap and showing the five-year old the diamond ring that he held between his fingers.

"That was Grans?"

"Aye it was. You remember the picture I showed you of her?"

Emily nodded. "You said that I look like her."

"That you do, lass. And you look like your mother as well." Carson said gently ruffling Emily's blond hair. Laura had put in for a permanent position at Atlantis not long after she and Rodney had stopped Atlantis from blowing up. Carson and Laura had continued to date, getting married five years later and having Emily right away.

"What was Gran like, daddy?" Emily asked, snuggling closer to Carson.

He smiled and putting the ring back into it's velvet box. "Well, she had the loveliest smile, almost like your's and mommy's; she could light up a room just by smilin'."

"Just like mommy?"

"Jus' like mommy. And your Gran was stubborn; you couldn't get her to do anythin' she didn't wan' to do. Very independent, tha's why she never married again after Granda died. She used to say that he was the only one who could tame her." Carson said, smiling at past memories. It had been almost three years since he had gotten word that she had passed away in her sleep. He still missed her and had been upset that he hadn't been there in her final days. But ever since the Stargate Program had gone public and people learned about Atlantis, she hadn't worried as much as she had when he was first here. The day after she had died, he had gotten a letter saying how much she wished she could've met Emily and that she still loved Carson very much.

"Did she live in Atlantis, like us?"

"Ach, no. She lived in Scotland, on Earth. Remember?" Carson and Laura had decided that Emily was still too young to travel back and forth on the Daedalus. They wanted to wait until she was at least ten before considering it.

"With all the sheep?" Emily asked, wrinkling her nose. She had been wrapped in Carson's sheepskin blanket enough to know what they must have smelled like.

"Aye, with all the sheep." Carson said in a wistful voice. Even though they had been here going on 7 years, he still missed his home. Mentally shaking himself out of the memories, he stood, setting Emily down. "Now off to bed with ye."

"Do I have to?" Emily whined. She wasn't tired and didn't want to go to bed.

"Yes, Aunt Teyla promised to take you to the mainland in the mornin'. Now scoot." He said, giving Emily a playful swat on her bottom.

Emily squealed and ran past Laura, heading towards her room.

"What was that all about?" Laura asked, walking towards Carson.

"I was jus' tellin' her 'bout Ma. She's like her more and more every day, ya know. You too." He said sitting down on the couch.

"Mmm, so you've told me." Laura said, sitting down beside him and wrapping her arms around him. "But who's the next one gonna take after? You?"

"Wha'…" Carson started to say, confused but then it dawned on him when the full meaning had sunk in. "You mean tha' you…"

Laura nodded and said, "Found out this morning. I've been waiting to tell you all day."

"Well fancy tha'." Carson said, grinning. Giving Laura a kiss he said, "I love you."

Before Laura could reply Emily dashed into the living room in her nightgown and jumped onto the couch saying, "Daddy will you tell me a story?"

Carson smiled, as did Laura, as he sat Emily down on his lap and said, "Alright, wha' about?"

"When Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth kissed each other. Before she married Uncle Rodney."

Carson smiled at the memory of when John and Elizabeth had been taken over by Phebus and Thalen. As he began the story he couldn't help but think, "_Now I know how Ma an' Da felt when they had me an' now there's another wee one on the way. It canna get any better than this._"


End file.
